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Friday, March 2, 2018

Every year for many I have posted my list here starting about this time in December--then update it into January and February as I see most of the top Christmas season releases. So the list always changes quite bit before it's "final" next month. UPDATED on Oscars night: Here's what I've got as possible final, and in approximate order. I judge this as an especially weak year for American movies with many good and heartening "breakthroughs" but not great films.

is author of a dozen books (click on covers at right), including the new "THE TUNNELS: Escapes Under the Berlin Wall and the Historic Films the JFK White House Tried to Kill." He was the longtime editor of Editor & Publisher. Email: epic1934@aol.com. Twitter: @GregMitch

Sunday, December 31, 2017

One of the great tragedies of modern music, the sudden death of Hank Williams at the age of 29--in the back seat of a Caddy, the cause still disputed (see recent Steve Earle novel)--happened 63 years ago today. Well, as Hank sang, he did not get out of this world alive. Here are few links and videos marking the day.

is author of a dozen books (click on covers at right), including the new "THE TUNNELS: Escapes Under the Berlin Wall and the Historic Films the JFK White House Tried to Kill." He was the longtime editor of Editor & Publisher. Email: epic1934@aol.com. Twitter: @GregMitch

Saturday, August 5, 2017

Each summer I count down the days to the atomic bombing of Japan (August
6 and August 9, 1945), marking events from the same day in
1945. I've been doing it here for more than two weeks now. I've written three books and ebooks on the
subject: Hiroshima in America (with Robert Jay Lifton), Atomic Cover-Up (on the decades-long suppression of shocking film shot in the atomic cities by the U.S. military), and Hollywood Bomb (the wild story of how an MGM 1947 epic was censored by the military and Truman himself).

August 5, 1945:

—Pilot Paul Tibbets formally named the lead plane in the mission, #82, after his mother, Enola Gay. A B-29 that would take photos on the mission would be named Necessary Evil.

—Also on Tinian, Little Boy is ready to go, awaiting word on weather, with General Curtis LeMay to make the call. At 3:30 p.m., in an air-conditioned bomb assembly hut, the five-ton bomb as loaded (gently) on to a trailer. Crew members scribbled words onto the bomb in crayon, including off-color greetings for the Japanese. Pulled by a tractor, accompanied by a convoy of jeeps and other vehicles, the new weapon arrives at the North Field and is lowered into the bomb pit.

--The bomb is still not armed. The man who would do, before takeoff, according to plan, was Parsons. But he had other ideas, fearing that the extra-heavy B-29 might crash on takeoff and taking with it “half the island.” He asked if he could arm the bomb in flight, and spent a few hours—on a hot and muggy August day—practicing before getting the okay.

—Pilot Tibbets tries to nap, without much success. Then, in the assembly hall just before midnight, he tells the crew, that the new bomb was “very powerful” but he did not mention the words “nuclear,” “atomic’ or “radiation.” He calls forward a Protestant chaplain who delivers a prayer he’d written for this occasion on the back of an envelope. It asks God to “to be with those who brave the heights of Thy heaven and who carry the battle to our enemies.”

—Hiroshima remains the primary target, with Kokura #2 and Nagasaki third. The aiming point was directly over the city, not the military base or industrial quarter, guaranteeing the deaths of tens of thousands of women and children.

— The Soviets are two days from declaring war on Japan and marching
across Manchuria. Recall that Truman had just written in diary "Fini Japs" when the Soviets would declare war, even without the Bomb. (See new evidence that it was the Soviet declaration
of war, more than the atomic bombing, that was the decisive factor in Japan's
surrender.)

—Halfway around the world from Tinian, on board the ship Augusta steaming home for the USA after the Potsdam meeting, President Truman relaxes. Truman’s order to use the bomb had simply stated that it could be used any time after August 1 so he had nothing to do but watch and wait. The order included the directive to use a second bomb, as well, without a built-in pause to gauge the results of the first and the Japanese response—even though the Japanese were expected, by Truman and others, to push surrender feelers, even without the bomb, with Russia’s entry into the war on August 7.

is author of a dozen books (click on covers at right), including the new "THE TUNNELS: Escapes Under the Berlin Wall and the Historic Films the JFK White House Tried to Kill." He was the longtime editor of Editor & Publisher. Email: epic1934@aol.com. Twitter: @GregMitch

Friday, August 4, 2017

Each summer I count down the days to the atomic bombing of Japan (August
6 and August 9, 1945), marking events from the same day in
1945. I've been doing it here for more than two weeks now. I've written three books on the
subject: Hiroshima in America (with Robert Jay Lifton), Atomic Cover-Up (on the decades-long suppression of shocking film shot in the atomic cities by the U.S. military), and Hollywood Bomb (the wild story of how an MGM 1947 drama was censored by the military and Truman himself).

August 4, 1945:

—On Tinian, Little Boy is ready to go, awaiting word on weather, with General LeMay to make the call. With the weather clearing near Hiroshima, still the primary target, taking off the night of August 5 appears the most likely scenario. Secretary of War Stimson writes of a “troubled” day due to the uncertain weather, adding: “The S-1 operation was postponed from Friday night [August 3] until Saturday night and then again Saturday night until Sunday.”

—Paul Tibbets, pilot of the lead plane, the Enola Gay, finally briefs others in the 509th Composite Group who will take part in the mission at 3 pm. Military police seal the building. Tibbets reveals that they will drop immensely powerful bombs, but the nature of the weapons are not revealed, only that it is “something new in the history of warfare.” When weaponeer Deke Parsons says, “We think it will knock out almost everything within a three-mile radius,” the audience gasps.

Then he tries to show a film clip of the recent Trinity test—but the projector starts shredding the film.
Parsons adds, “No one knows exactly what will happen when the bomb is dropped from the air,” and he distributes welder’s glasses for the men to wear. But he does not relate any warnings about radioactivity or order them not to fly through the mushroom cloud.

—On board the ship Augusta steaming home for the USA after the Potsdam meeting, President Truman relaxes and plays poker with one of the bomb drop’s biggest booster, Secretary of State Jimmy Byrnes. Truman’s order to use the bomb had simply stated that it could be used any time after August 1 so he had nothing to do but watch and wait. The order included the directive to use a second bomb, as well, without a built-in pause to gauge the results of the first and the Japanese response—even though the Japanese were expected, by Truman and others, to push surrender feelers, even without the bomb, with Russia’s entry into the war on August 7. Hence: assembly-line massacre in Nagasaki.

--Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who directed the U.S. war in the Pacific, and would soon become the head of our occupation of Japan, had still not been told of the existence and planned use of the new bomb. Norman Cousins, the famed author and magazine editor, who was an aide to MacArthur, would later reveal: "MacArthur's views about the decision to drop the atomic bomb on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki were starkly different from what the general
public supposed....When I asked General MacArthur about
the decision to drop the bomb, I was surprised to learn he had not even
been consulted. What, I asked, would his advice have been? He replied
that he saw no military justification for the dropping of the bomb. The
war might have ended weeks earlier, he said, if the United States had
agreed, as it later did anyway, to the retention of the institution of
the emperor." As we noted earlier, both General Eisenhower and Truman's top aide, Admiral Leahy, both protested the use of the bomb against Japan in advance.

is author of a dozen books (click on covers at right), including the new "THE TUNNELS: Escapes Under the Berlin Wall and the Historic Films the JFK White House Tried to Kill." He was the longtime editor of Editor & Publisher. Email: epic1934@aol.com. Twitter: @GregMitch

Thursday, August 3, 2017

Each summer I count down the days to the atomic bombing of Japan (August
6 and August 9, 1945), marking events from the same day in
1945. I've been doing it here for more than two weeks now. I've written three books on the
subject: Hiroshima in America (with Robert Jay Lifton), Atomic Cover-Up (on the decades-long suppression of shocking film shot in the atomic cities by the U.S. military), and Hollywood Bomb (the wild story of how an MGM 1947 drama was censored by the military and Truman himself).

August 3, 1945

--On Tinian, Little Boy is ready to go, awaiting word on weather, with General LeMay to make the call. Taking off the night of August 5 appears most likely scenario.

--On board the ship Augusta steaming home for USA after Potsdam meeting, President Truman, Joint Chiefs chairman Admiral Leahy, and Secretary of State James F. Byrnes--a strong A-bomb booster--enjoy some poker. Byrnes aide Walter Brown notes in his diary that "President, Leahy, JFB [Byrnes) agreed Japan looking for peace. (Leahy had another report from Pacific.) President afraid they will sue for peace through Russia instead of some country like Sweden."

--Leahy had questioned the decision to use the bomb, later writing: "[T]he use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender.... [I]n being the first to use it, we...adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages. I was not taught to make war in that fashion, and wars cannot be won by destroying women and children."

--Our "Magic" intercepts show Japan monitoring the Soviets' military buildup in the Far East (prelude to the declaration of war in four days). Also, Japanese still searching for way to approach Molotov to pursue possible surrender terms before that happens. Another Magic intercept carried the heading, "Japanese Army's interest in peace negotiations." War Department intel analysts revealed "the first statement to appear in the traffic that the Japanese Army is interested in the effor tto end the war with Soviet assitance." A segment of Prime Minister Togo's message declared: "The Premier and the leaders of the Army are now concentrting all their attention on this one point."

John McCloy, then assistant secretary of war and a well-known "hawk" in his later career, would later reflect, "I have always felt that if, in our ultimatum to the Japanese government
issued from Potsdam [in July 1945], we had referred to the retention of
the emperor as a constitutional monarch and had made some reference to
the reasonable accessibility of raw materials to the future Japanese
government, it would have been accepted. Indeed, I believe that even in
the form it was delivered, there was some disposition on the part of
the Japanese to give it favorable consideration. When the war was over I
arrived at this conclusion after talking with a number of Japanese
officials who had been closely associated with the decision of the then
Japanese government, to reject the ultimatum, as it was presented. I
believe we missed the opportunity of effecting a Japanese surrender,
completely satisfactory to us, without the necessity of dropping the
bombs."

--Soviet General Vasilevskii reports to Stalin that Soviet forces ready for invasion from August 7 on.

is author of a dozen books (click on covers at right), including the new "THE TUNNELS: Escapes Under the Berlin Wall and the Historic Films the JFK White House Tried to Kill." He was the longtime editor of Editor & Publisher. Email: epic1934@aol.com. Twitter: @GregMitch

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Each summer I count down the days to the atomic bombing of Japan (August
6 and August 9, 1945), marking events from the same day in
1945. I've been doing it here for more than two weeks now. Here's yesterday's report. I've written three books on the
subject: Hiroshima in America (with Robert Jay Lifton), Atomic Cover-Up (on the decades-long suppression of shocking film shot in the atomic cities by the U.S. military), and Hollywood Bomb (the wild story of how an MGM 1947 drama was censored by the military and Truman himself).

August 2, 1945

—Early today, Paul Tibbets, pilot of the lead plane, the Enola Gay (named after his mom) on the first mission, reported to Gen. Curtis LeMay’s Air Force headquartters on Guam. LeMay told him the “primary” was still Hiroshima. Bombardier Thomas Ferebee pointed on a map what the aiming point for the bomb would be—a distinctive T-shaped bride in the center of the city, not the local army base. “It’s the most perfect aiming I’ve seen in the whole damned war,” Tibbets said. But the main idea was to set the bomb off over the center of the city, which rests in kind of a bowl, so that the surrounding hills would supply a “focusing effect” that would lead to added destruction and loss of life in city mainly filled by women and children.

—By 3 p.m., top secret orders were being circulated for Special Bombing Mission #13, now set for August 6, when the weather would clear. The first alternate to Hiroshima was Kokura. The second, Nagasaki. The order called for only “visual bombing,” not radar, so the weather had to be okay. Six planes would take part. Two would escort the Enola Gay, one would take photos, the other would be a kind of mobile lab, dropping canisters to send back scientific information.

—Meanwhile, three B-29s arrived at Tinian carrying from Los Alamos the bomb assemblies for the second Fat Man device (which would use plutonium, the substance of choice for the future, unlike the uranium bomb meant for Hiroshima).

—Japanese cables and other message intercepted by the United States showed that they were still trying to enlist the Soviets' help in presenting surrender terms--they would even send an envoy--but were undecided on just what to propose. The Russians, meanwhile, were just five days from declaring war on Japan.

--Top U.S. officials were on now centering on allowing the Japanese to keep their emperor when they give up. In his diary Secretary of War Stimson endorses a key report which concludes: "The retention of the Emperor will probably insure the immediate surrender of all Japanese Forces outside the home islands." Would offering that win a swift Japanese surrender--without the need to use the bomb?Not considered.

—Six years ago earlier on this day, August 2, 1939, Albert Einstein sent a letter to President Roosevelt stating the Germans were trying to enrich uranium 235—and that this process would allow them to build an atomic bomb. This helped spark FDR’s decision to create the Manhattan Project.

is author of a dozen books (click on covers at right), including the new "THE TUNNELS: Escapes Under the Berlin Wall and the Historic Films the JFK White House Tried to Kill." He was the longtime editor of Editor & Publisher. Email: epic1934@aol.com. Twitter: @GregMitch

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Each summer I count down the days to the atomic bombing of Japan (August
6 and August 9, 1945), marking events from the same day in
1945. I've written three books on the
subject: Hiroshima in America (with Robert Jay Lifton), Atomic Cover-Up (on the decades-long suppression of shocking film shot in the atomic cities by the U.S. military), and Hollywood Bomb (the wild story of how an MGM 1947 drama was censored by the military and Truman himself).

—Truman wrote a letter to his wife Bess last night talking about the atomic bomb (but without revealing it): “He [Stalin] doesn’t know it but I have an ace in the hole and another one showing—so unless he has threes or two pair (and I know he has not) we are sitting all right.”

And today he gives a letter to Stalin, which confounds the Soviet leader. Earlier, Stalin had promised to declare war on Japan around August 7. Now Truman writes that more consultation is needed. Truman had earlier pushed for the quick entry, writing in his diary "fini Japs" when that occurred, even without use of The Bomb. Now that he has the bomb in his "pocket" he apparently hopes to stall the Soviets.

--Truman has also approved statement on the use of the bomb, brought to him last night in Germany by a courier, drafted by Secretary of War Stimson and others, and ordered it released after the bomb drop. A line near the start has been added explicitly depicting the vast city of Hiroshima (occupied mainly by women and children) as nothing but a “military base.” The president, and the drafters of the statement, knew was false. An earlier draft described the city of Nagasaki as a “naval base” and nothing more. There would be no reference to radiation effects whatsoever in the statement—it was just a vastly bigger bomb.

—The Potsdam conference ended early this morning, with Truman expected to head back to the US by sea tomorrow.

—The “Little Boy” atomic bomb is now ready for use on the island of Tinian. Under the direction of the lead pilot, Paul Tibbetts, practice runs have been completed, near Iwo Jima, and fake payloads dropped, with success. Truman’s order had given the okay for the first mission later this day and it might have happened if a typhoon was not approaching Japan.

—Stimson writes in his diary about decision today to release to the press, with Truman’s coming statement after the use of the bomb, a 200-page report on the building of the bomb, revised to not give too much away. Here he explains why they will release it at all: “The aim of the paper is to backfire reckless statements by independent scientists after the demonstration of the bomb. If we could be sure that these could be controlled and avoided, all of us would much prefer not to issue such a paper. But under the circumstances of the entire independence of action of scientists and the certainty that there would be a tremendous amount of excitement and reckless statement, [Gen. Leslie] Groves, who is a very conservative man, had reached the conclusion that the lesser evil would be for us to make a statement carefully prepared so as not to give away anything vital and thus try to take the stage away from the others.”

is author of a dozen books (click on covers at right), including the new "THE TUNNELS: Escapes Under the Berlin Wall and the Historic Films the JFK White House Tried to Kill." He was the longtime editor of Editor & Publisher. Email: epic1934@aol.com. Twitter: @GregMitch

Monday, July 31, 2017

Each summer I count down the days to the atomic bombing of Japan (August
6 and August 9, 1945), marking events from the same day in
1945. I've written three books on the
subject: Hiroshima in America (with Robert Jay Lifton), Atomic Cover-Up (on the decades-long suppression of shocking film shot in the atomic cities by the U.S. military), and Hollywood Bomb (the wild story of how an MGM 1947 drama was censored by the military and Truman himself).

July 31, 1945:

--In Germany, Admiral William D. Leahy, chief of staff to Truman--and the highest-ranking U.S. military officer during the war--continues to privately express doubts about the bomb, that it may not work and is not needed, in any case. (Gen. Eisenhower had just come out against using the Bomb.) Leahy would later write in his memoirs:

"It is my opinion that the use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and
Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The
Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender because of the
effective sea blockade and the successful bombing with conventional
weapons.

"The lethal possibilities of atomic warfare in the future are
frightening. My own feeling was that in being the first to use it, we
had adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark
Ages. I was not taught to make war in that fashion, and wars cannot be
won by destroying women and children."

--The assembly of Little Boy is completed. It is ready for
use the next day. But a typhoon approaching Japan will likely
prevent launching an attack. Several days might be required for weather
to clear.

--Secretary of War Stimson sends semi-final draft of statement for Truman to read when first bomb used and he has to explain its use, and the entire bomb project, to the U.S. and the world, with this cover note: "Attached are two copies of the revised
statement which has been prepared for release by you as
soon as the new weapon is used. This is the statement
about which I cabled you last night. The reason for the haste is that I was
informed only yesterday that, weather permitting, it is
likely that the weapon will be used as early as August
1st, Pacific Ocean Time, which as you know is a good many
hours ahead of Washington time."

It is an atomic bomb. It is a
harnessing of the basic power of the universe. The force
from which the sun draws its power has been loosed
against those who brought war to the Far East.

is author of a dozen books (click on covers at right), including the new "THE TUNNELS: Escapes Under the Berlin Wall and the Historic Films the JFK White House Tried to Kill." He was the longtime editor of Editor & Publisher. Email: epic1934@aol.com. Twitter: @GregMitch

Sunday, July 30, 2017

Every year at this time, I trace the final days leading up to the first
(and so far only) use of the atomic bomb against cities, Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, Japan, in August 1945. As many know, this is a
subject that I have studied and written about in hundreds of articles
and three books (including the recent Atomic Cover-Up on the U.S. suppression of film for decades and another on a Hollywood film)
since the early 1980s with a special emphasis on the aftermath of the
bombings, and the government and media reactions in the decades after.

July 30, 1945

Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander of U.S. troops
in Europe, has visited President Truman in Germany, and would recall
what happened in his memoir (Mandate for Change): "Secretary
of War Stimson, visiting my headquarters in Germany, informed me that
our government was preparing to drop an atomic bomb on Japan. I was one
of those who felt that there were a number of cogent reasons to question
the wisdom of such an act...

"During his recitation of the relevant facts, I had been conscious of
a feeling of depression and so I voiced to him my grave misgivings,
first on the basis of my belief that Japan was already defeated and that
dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary, and secondly because I
thought that our country should avoid shocking world opinion by the use
of a weapon whose employment was, I thought, no longer mandatory as a
measure to save American lives. It was my belief that Japan was, at that
very moment, seeking some way to surrender with a minimum loss of
'face'. The Secretary was deeply perturbed by my attitude..."

In a Newsweek interview, Ike would add: "...the Japanese were ready to surrender and it wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing."

-- Stimson, now back at the Pentagon, cabled Truman, that he had
drafted a statement for the president that would follow the first use of
the new weapon--and Truman must urgently review it because the bomb
could be used as early as August 1. Stimson sent one of his aides to
Germany with two copies of the statement. The Top Secret, six-page typed
statement opened: "____ hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb
on ______ and destroyed its usefulness to the enemy. That bomb has more
power than 20,000 tons of TNT.... It is an atomic bomb. It is a
harnessing of the basic power of the universe." Later, as we will see,
the claim that Hiroshima was merely "a military base" was added to the
draft.

--After scientists sifted more data from the July 16 Trinity test of
the first weapon, Gen. Leslie R. Groves, military head of the Manhattan
Project provided Gen. George Marshall, our top commander, with more
detail on the destructive power of atomic weapons. Amazingly, despite
the new evidence, Groves recommended that troops could move into the
"immediate explosion area" within a half hour" (and, indeed, in future
bomb tests soldiers would march under the mushroom clouds and receive
harmful doses of radiation). Groves also provided the schedule for the
delivery of the weapons: By the end of November more than ten weapons
would be available, in the event the war had continued.

--Groves faced a new problem, however. Gen. "Tooey" Spaatz on Guam
urgently cabled that sources suggested that there was an Allied prisoner
of war camp in Nagasaki just a mile north of the center of the city.
Should it remain on the target list?" Groves, who had already dropped
Kyoto from the list after Stimson had protested, refused to shift. In
another cable Spaatz revealed that there were no POW camps in Hiroshima,
or so they believed. This firmed up Groves's position that Hiroshima
should "be given top priority," weather permitting. As it turned out,
POWs died in both cities from the bombing.

Greg Mitchell, former editor of Nuclear Times and Editor & Publisher, is the author of more than a dozen books, with three on the use of the bomb, including Atomic Cover-Up (on the decades-long suppression of shocking film shot in the atomic cities by the U.S. military) and Hollywood Bomb (the wild story of how an MGM 1947 drama was censored by the military and Truman himself).

is author of a dozen books (click on covers at right), including the new "THE TUNNELS: Escapes Under the Berlin Wall and the Historic Films the JFK White House Tried to Kill." He was the longtime editor of Editor & Publisher. Email: epic1934@aol.com. Twitter: @GregMitch

Saturday, July 29, 2017

Every year at this time, I trace the final days leading up to the first
(and so far only) use of the atomic bomb against cities, Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, Japan, in August 1945. This is a
subject that I have studied and written about in hundreds of articles
and three books (including the recent Atomic Cover-Up on the U.S. suppression of film for decades and another on a Hollywood film)
since the early 1980s with a special emphasis on the aftermath of the
bombings, and the government and media reactions in the decades after.On July 29, 1945:

—Truman wrote letter to wife Bess from Potsdam on deals there (but
does not mention A-bomb discussions with Soviets): “I like Stalin. He is
straightforward, knows what he wants and will compromise when he can’t
get it. His Foreign Minister isn’t so forthright.“ Truman casually
informed Stalin about the atomic bomb but no one is quite certain that
the latter understood.

—Japanese sub sinks the U.S.S. Indianapolis,
killing over 800 American seamen. If it had happened three days
earlier, the atomic bomb the ship was carrying to Tinian would have
never made it.

—A Newsweek story observes: “As Allied air and sea attacks
hammered the stricken homeland, Japan’s leaders assessed the war
situation and found it bordering on the disastrous…. As usual, the
nation’s propaganda media spewed out brave double-talk of hope and
defiance.” But it adds: “Behind the curtain, Japan had put forward at
least one definite offer. Fearing the results of Russian participation
in the war, Tokyo transmitted to Generalissimo Stalin the broad terms
on which it professed willingness to settle all scores.”

—Assembling of the first atomic bomb continued at Tinian. It would
likely be ready on August 1 and the first use would be dictated by the
weather. The second bomb—the plutonium device—was still back in the States.
The target list, with Hiroshima as #1, remained in place, although it
was being studied for the presence of POW camps holding Americans in the
target cities.

—Secretary of War Stimson began work on the statement on the first
use of the bomb that President Truman would record or release in a few
days, claiming we merely hit a "military base," assuming the bomb worked.

is author of a dozen books (click on covers at right), including the new "THE TUNNELS: Escapes Under the Berlin Wall and the Historic Films the JFK White House Tried to Kill." He was the longtime editor of Editor & Publisher. Email: epic1934@aol.com. Twitter: @GregMitch

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